MEDIA

MEDIA; Publisher Will Use Maxim's Formula in New Movie Magazine

By DAVID CARR

Published: January 27, 2003

With much of Hollywood's attention focused on pleasing young male viewers, a demographic group that attends movies in droves, Dennis Publishing U.S. figured that it only made sense to produce a movie magazine aimed at the same consumer.

The new magazine, whose name has yet to be determined, will be published in a newstand-only test in May, with a distribution of 400,000 copies.

Dennis Publishing U.S., which is a subsidiary of the similarly named British company founded by Felix Dennis, has successfully connected with young men through Maxim, a British-inspired publication rife with bawdy humor and with photos of women showing a fair amount of themselves. But if translating that formula to the movie magazine takes, Dennis Publishing will soon be competing against a business partner, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., the publisher of Premiere.

Producing a movie magazine is not as simple as it sounds. Magazines that focus exclusively on movies rather than a broad menu of pop culture have not been a hit with advertisers. Premiere carried 413 pages of advertising in 2002, according to the Publishers Information Bureau; three years earlier, it had 746 ad pages. Movieline, which is independently owned, ran 276 pages last year, down from 417.5 page in 1999. And Imagine Media's Total Movie flamed out soon after it started up in 2000.

But Stephen Colvin, president of Dennis Publishing U.S., which also publishes a music magazine called Blender, said his new magazine could be very popular. ''If you look at the movies that were big in 2002 -- 'Spiderman,' 'Austin Powers,' 'Lord of the Rings' -- they have huge appeal to young men, and there is no magazine that caters to that audience.''

Mr. Colvin said he did not view Premiere as competition. ''They have been doing what they have been doing for a good, long while, and we hope to serve a completely different audience,'' he said.

An Hachette-owned company sells Maxim advertising in Europe, and the parent company produces several versions of the magazine under licensing agreements in France, Poland and Russia.

Jack Kliger, chief executive of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., a unit of Lagardère of France, said he was unconcerned. ''It is all in the execution,'' he said. ''We are not a celebrity magazine. We are an enthusiast magazine and are very focused on what we are doing.'' Hachette recently attempted to jump-start Premiere with a redesign and a return to the original oversized format.

Mr. Colvin said the publication could be produced ''twice a year, or 12 times a year, depending on the demand.''

As in all Dennis products, there will be photos of women. But Mr. Colvin predicted: ''We might even have some guys in this magazine every now and again. Guys love their superheroes in movies.''

Photos: Felix Dennis, the chairman of Dennis Publishing Ltd., with fellow revelers. (Patrick McMullan); Stephen Colvin is the president of Dennis Publishing's American arm.